A Wisbech landlady is celebrating after clearing her name following a hearing that was called when she was accused of bad practice and breaching licensing objectives.
The hearing ruled in favour of Janet Stickwood of the Clarkson Arms who said the review had wasted tax payers money needlessly when concerns could have been resolved by mediation.
Mrs Stickwood, the personal licence holder and designated premises supervisor at the Lynn Road venue, said she was thrilled with the outcome and satisfied her name had been cleared of wrong doing.
She was accused of “bad practice, a general unwillingness to assist the emergency services” and breaching licensing objectives following a complaint by George Hennessy of Lynn Road about an “unprovoked attack” at the pub on his son Mark.
Mr Hennessy, a retired police officer, told how in January a man glassed his son “for no apparent reason” and when staff claimed they had called police, they had not.
Committee chairman Councillor Michael Humphrey said: “We accept the review called by George Hennessy was the result of a single incident but we are of the opinion that the blame for such action by one individual on another did not lie with the staff or the management of the premises.
“However, we are concerned by the number of recorded crimes and incidents at the premises even though we also accept not all can be directly linked to staff or bad management.
“The panel is concerned that issues highlighted in 2013 have not progressed and non-participation in PubWatch and SIRCS has left the premises vulnerable to customers barred from other premises in the area.
“The application for a review afforded parties an opportunity to mediate and agree conditions that would help deal with the issues raised but unfortunately this was not possible to arrange.”
Mrs Stickwood said she questions the motives for bringing the review to a hearing and added that the CCTV camera system at The Clarkson Arms, put in voluntarily by herself, was inspected by the licensing committee and proved to be in perfect working order.
She added she could not be held responsible for the police not collecting CCTV evidence within the storage time frame.
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